No efforts yet from Trump administration for mass deportation of Syrian refugees

Through executive orders, President Donald Trump has attempted to reduce the number of refugees to be admitted into the United States and to halt the entry of Syrian nationals.

But so far, he has not followed up on his promise to deport all Syrian refugees already in the country. Trump in September 2015 said that if he won the presidency, Syrian refugees would be "going back." 

More than 20,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in the United States since Oct. 1, 2011 (the beginning of fiscal year 2012), according to the latest data from the State Department's Refugee Processing Center. The Syrian civil war began in 2011.

To date, we have not seen any efforts from the Trump administration for a deportation of Syrian refugees. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman told us there are no directives to remove all Syrian refugees. "However, individuals may be removed based on certain circumstances depending on their immigration status," David Lapan, DHS spokesman said.

Experts who follow issues related to Syrian refugees also told us they had not seen any concerted efforts related to this campaign promise. 

Refugees admitted into the United States are legally present in the United States. They are required by law to apply for permanent resident status after living one year in the country. An immigration expert previously told us that the removal of Syrian refugees would have to be done on a case-by-case basis. Grounds for deportation include criminal misconduct or immigration violations.

If a refugee becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen based on materially fraudulent information, they could be stripped of citizenship and put in removal proceedings, said Denise Bell, senior campaigner for refugee and migrant rights for Amnesty International USA. 

We asked the White House press office if the president was still planning to follow through on this pledge. We did not get a response.

Pending action from the Trump administration to remove all Syrian refugees, we rate this promise Stalled.